Un protocole d’expérimentations de réduction en bas fourneau d’un minerai calcique (la minette de Lorraine)

Abstract

In parallel with laboratory studies on archaeological remains, the knowledge of the conditions of reduction process required the development of experiments based on archaeological data. The first aim is to reproduce the same slags on the bottom of the furnace, associated with the production of a bloom. These are necessary conditions for defining all the parameters of a representative bloomery process. The final aim is to understand how the ancient blacksmiths have used a particular iron-ore with success (the oolitic iron-ore from Lorraine: la minette), in spite of certain technical problems (higher temperatures, yield of metal, phosphorus). Archaeology has provided evidence for the use of the oolitic iron-ore from Lorraine in the bloomery process from the Roman period onwards.